No, not a movie like "Being John Malkovic."

I thought I'd listen to Arngeir as he told me all about being Dragonborn. It seems there are 2 parts to this:

1) The Voice

2) Dragon Blood

According to Arngeir, Kynareth gave men (Nords only?) "The Voice" at the dawn of time. Later, he says that Akatosh bestows upon the Dragonborn the gift of "Dragon Blood."

So, "The Voice" does not sound like the ability that makes us Dragonborn, but rather the gift of Dragonblood. Is that fairly accurate? Is it the Dragon blood that gives the ability to absorb Dragon Souls?

That would explain why Ulfric is not considered Dragonborn when he shouts down Torygg, nor the Graybeards, either, as they have mastery of "The Voice" already.

Am I on the right track?

Yup, plenty of folks can use the voice. The Graybeards, Ulfric, the old Nord armies had warriors called 'Tongues' whose specialty was the voice so they could bring down the walls of enemy fortresses etc. It is the dragonblood of the dragonborn that enables the voice to be learned so naturally without much training.

As far as whether Nords are the only race that can use the voice, I'm not going near that question.

Yea, Arngeir was fairly vague on that point

I am pretty sure no one has ever used The Voice who was not a Nord or a Dragonborn, so I think that answers the question of who Kynareth gave the gift to.

As Acadian said, The Voice was a gift of Kynareth, allowing Nords willing to spend long hours studying to learn the dragon language to focus their voices into a shout. The Dragonblood is a gift of Akatosh, allowing those born with it to absorb dragon souls directly and shout without study.

Then there is Jurgan Windcaller, who convinced the Nords to give up their ancient ways and only use the gift of Kynareth to meditate and other such pacifist activities, which had the effect of reducing the Nords from arguably the most powerful race in the world capable of driving out elves out of Skyrim to a band of backwards barbarians with little chance of standing up to the Thalmor.

Nords have a stronger connection to Kyne, and can use Her Gifts with less difficulty than other Races. Shouting is an older form of Magic, but requires too much time to Master for most Mortals, especially when compared to "normal magic".

Remember as you read, I am no expert by any means on this topic

Sorry, but I have to ask... If Nords are "the ones", how do Dragonborns of non-Nord races get The Voice? Would that come from the Dragonblood imbued upon them?

Jurgen did that, though, after the Nords defeat at Red Mountain. They may have been fairly decimated by that time.

This is interesting. I wonder why "long-lived" Elves (Mer) do not take the time to learn, since they have so much time?

[quote name="AlBQuirky" post="24089096" timestamp="1435021011"]

Remember as you read, I am no expert by any means on this topic

Sorry, but I have to ask... If Nords are "the ones", how do Dragonborns of non-Nord races get The Voice? Would that come from the Dragonblood imbued upon them?
[/quote]

Yes. As discussed above, The Voice is a gift of Kyne to the Nord race. The Dragonblood is a gift of Akatosh to whomever Akatosh pleases.

I haven't seen any evidence other races can learn the voice unless they are Dragonborn, in which case they aren't "learning" since the Dragonborn can shout without study. I'd like to see a link to a source before believing that elves could learn the thu'um

I think there are two reasons Elves would not pursue the Voice,

1. Having to acknowledge Kyne.

2. Making a mistake in casting a Spell is not (usually) as destructive as making a mistake as a User of the Voice. Three Greybeards can not speak without causing shaking, Angier is the exception.